Six minutes is all that each of 69 start-ups get to impress journalists, venture capitalists and technology mavens. If speakers run over, the music starts, the organizer steps on stage and the microphone goes off. At this week's DEMOfall 2007 conference, companies will pay $18,500 apiece to show they have the answer to a vexing problem. Many offer to make it easier to cut through the Web's proliferation of blogs and forums. Others offer advertisers the prospect of tracking down choice segments of such an amorphous audience.

Sun will begin building servers with one-time foe Microsoft's Windows operating system installed directly inside of them, instead of forcing customers to install the ubiquitous software on their own or defect to a competitor for one-stop shopping.

Yahoo Inc. is buying online advertising network BlueLithium for $300 million in cash, building upon an expansion aimed at ending a financial malaise that has ravaged the Internet pioneer's stock price.